The year has ended. But I definitely feel like this is merely the start of something new and wonderful and bad-ass in all the most professional of bad-ass ways. Barrio Bites-Boston started in October and continued through June. Some students came and went. Other young men and women liked to strut a little more Andre 3000, putting in sporadic appearances due to other obligations like sports, academics, and family. Then there were the all-stars, the heavy hitters, the ones with longevity; all year, week after week, these young men (yes, the group was predominantly male w/the exception of the exceptional Jameeka) came to Barrio Bites, worked, joked around, and cooked really excellent food. These fine folks were the backbone of Barrio Bites and I cannot wait to work with them again next year.

Side note/shameless plug - we have a cookbook you can buy on Blurb to help support our group! The book includes many of the photos you've seen here over the course of the year as well as several of the recipes. Click here! Now! Do it! All the cool kids are! I wanted the Barrio Bites students to have something tangible to remember our year, and I'm hoping they'll try to cook over the summer. They might not make anything from the book, but I believe it could help be a subtle reminder that they can accomplish things they might not have attempted to accomplish before this year.

I saw so many wonderful things happen this year. I saw students enjoy kale, bok choy, tomatoes, avocados, meatless burgers, mushrooms, and more for the first time (And no, Barrio Bites does not promote a vegetarian/vegan/raw food/paleo/any specific diet or "way of life". It just so happens that many of the students I work with do not have the food experience that many others are fortunate to participate in). I saw students eat salads with fish sauce. I saw students make tortillas from scratch. I saw students learn how french fries come from the simple potato. I saw students help one another cut an onion. I saw students remind their peers to wash their hands after they've touched a habanero pepper or raw meat. I saw students go back for seconds when they didn't even want to try firsts. I saw students kick ass.

I saw plenty of things I want to grow and refine, and that's exciting. It's not like it was all rainbows and unicorns. I have things I need to work on as a facilitator and the students have things they need to work on. For example, the students have a lot of room for improvement in terms of filtering distractions and focusing; I don't know how many times I told them "Look at the recipe." But that's the beauty of cooking with each other; it's a never-ending journey. There is no endpoint. We can always improve. We can always help others improve. Self-reflection is a prerequisite for self-growth. And there's a shitload of room to grow. I need more family and community involvement. I don't want it; I NEED it. Cooking should bring people together, should get them talking and communicating with each other, discussing serious shit because community building is serious shit. I'm already excited that Whole Foods Brookline has donated money for food costs and George Howell Coffee has offered the students an opportunity to come learn about coffee. But I also want to get more parents/family members involved, more school staff involved, more local Hyde Park businesses. Build up and blow out the confines of the school. If any of you know people who read about Barrio Bites and might have opportunities to collaborate with us, shoot me an email at barriobites@gmail.com.

Anyways, I will continue to look to sell salsa and cater events to bring in some money for food/equipment costs (again, if you'd like to help with either, shoot me an email). I'm also stoked to be starting grad school for Prevention Science and Practice in order to develop a more knowledgeable base on the social-emotional IQ of students. Then I can't wait to apply these theoretical underpinnings within the day-to-day grind of working with the Barrio Bites students. I don't know what it all will look like. But I'm excited as hell as find out. Adelante!

The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.